Anyone else have to keep yearly hours? We do short lessons and I'm coming up short:( Help ple

So how many hours are you short?  I would look for things you do throughout the day that can fall into those categories:. Family game night (many board games involve math skills, mad libs are great for LA) bedtime read aloud, baking involves measuring and reading to follow a recipe.  Audio books and videos can help, too.  Studying pioneers, watch the Little House series.  I don’t know which time period you are studying but I’m sure someone here can help you find something appropriate for your age group. Same for science.  I think you are doing plenty, especially for the age group.  adding hours will probably be easier than you realize.

I agree with 4my boys. I would put a tape on in the car when you are going anywhere. You would be surprised how much that adds up. Are you counting your History, Science ect… as reading time also??? Two for the price of one.  How about breaking up the Handwriting, copywork, and dictation. Are you counting seperate time for those? I consider Handwriting and spelling two different core subjects. IMA that is. tehe he

  What about videos? If you watched educational videos that counts.  What about computer time? Lots of great computer games out there to practice those skills when they are not busy.  Even U-tube videos on things they are interested in.  My son right now is interested in frogs. He was on the computer looking up everything under the sun on what kind of frogs he would like to own someday in the near future. 🙂  Research papers printed out do count towards the lesson. 🙂  Gardening skills if you had one last year count towards Science. Measuring cups and teaspoons while cooking/baking are science also. Some things double.  Like outdoor time. Not only nature study but what about the time they spent on their bike? that is PE and that is what is expected in a school.  You may think about the times you went to the beach or on a road trip somewhere. Did you count that?  There are so many things that can double in both subjects or are learning experiances.  The school systems count going to a zoo or on a feild trip as learning. So can you.

  I am sure you will find your hours you put in.  It isn’t that hard to make them up if behind or find the lost ones. 🙂

Also don’t forget about life skills and home economics. Any time your children are in the kitchen with you, even if they’re just stirring a pot, I would count it as home ec. I would count any chores as school hours because they are learning: responsibility, hard work, work ethic, dependability.

Trips to the library is reading time and a field trip. Public school kids get to count library time as school time, why shouldn’t you?

Time at church is reading, music, and social studies because they are doing all of those things. If they go to kids’ church and come home with an art project, there’s 30 minutes of art right there! I would also consider any Bible reading, in or out of church, to be history.

Any time playing outside is P.E.

Digging in the dirt, catching bugs, even burning ants with a magnifying glass! are all science. Do you have a garden? If they help you plant it and you talk about seeds and water and sunshine, there’s science too!

You can turn anything into a math lesson. When they’re folding socks, talk about what a pair is and counting by twos. During snack time, use the apples or raisins or whatever as manipulatives. Sorting, counting, color recognition, shapes, all are math for the very young ones. Sort laundry into colors, sort silverware, sort colors. Count by twos, threes, fives, etc. Put magnet letters on the fridge and call it spelling!

Do you listen to music while you cook or clean? Have the kids help you in the kitchen and use that as music appreciation time.

Any time spent in free coloring, painting, play doh, stamping, etc. is art. If your children play with puppets or dress up and put on plays or even make believe games, call that theater or fine arts!

Our states are so dumb to think that homeschool children don’t get in enough academics just because they’re not sitting in a classroom. I would doubt very seriously if an 8yo public schooled child get 1000 hours of actual schooling time in a year.

And now I will step off my soapbox.

Keep in mind, you don’t have to keep hours for anyone who is under the age of 7 on the first day that marks the beginning of your school “year.”

Taken from the HSLDA site:

A child is not subject to compulsory attendance unless he is age 7 at the beginning of his school term. If a parent determines their school term will begin September 1, and the child turns 7 on September 15, the child will not be of compulsory age until the following year. Parents have no legal duty to offer 1000 hours of instruction or keep any records until a child is age 7 at the beginning of his school term.

Hours are a pain.  I round up or down, and usually keep it at quarter hours.  And I try to keep it the same throughout the week.  I almost always count .3 for grammar for instance, even though we do 2 lessons sometimes.  Other times it might take a little less time if we do one short lesson, but if I keep it always at .3, it’s easy to remember and it all averages out right.  

Hope this helps!  

I use a spreadsheet to record hours and I also use the organizer.  When I print out the checklists, I write extra stuff on them if/when we do it and then record it accordingly when I bring the checklists in to record hours and upate the organizer.  Before I used the organizer, I wrote them down on paper, under a subject heading and then recorded them.

We’re supposed to do 900 hours but don’t have to track what is in each subject. (I’m in Ohio). We school year round and always have over 200 days. Figuring on 200 days that’s 4.5 hours a day. We listen to audio books for 2.5 hours a day (1.5 at quiet time and an hour at bedtime). So that leaves me 2 hours to fill and that’s easy enough.

Plus – we have audio books, scripture study, PE/outdoor activities, cooking, etc on non school days too, which adds up. About cooking – it’s something we count when my kids take time to help. My 11yo now cooks dinner a few nights a week and the 8yo boy has been baking cakes this month and learning to decorate them in preparation for a Cub Scouts activity. OH! And that reminds me that Cub Scouts and Youth group activities count often as learning activities.

We have field trips to the zoo, science center, nature center, history museum, etc. These are usually 2-4 hours long and we do at least 1 a month, more in the summer, so that adds up too. My oldest three get the opportunity to take turns coming on Mason’s medical appointments and so they visit hospitals, doctors, therapists and we have had some of the best health/science lessons this way. Imagine being able to ask a specialist how the bladder works and what is different when a child’s nerves don’t work well there (neurogenic bladder). He took my 11 year old through the entire system plus potential treatments and even drew diagrams on the paper of the exam table that we tore off to bring home. (She then narrated it to her daddy!)

I think the hardest thing is simply noticing the things in a homeschool family’s everyday life that are educational. It truly becomes a lifestyle and integrated into living. My 11 yo was the grocery shopper this week with me, she had to do the price comparisons, ad checking, and more. I was her assistant. When I take one of the younger ones we talk through simpler math like how many containers of yogurt can we get with $7.00? How much money will be left over if we just get one? These things become habit and you don’t notice you’re doing them, but they all work towards our children’s learning.